Packers defense stymies read-option but has no answer for Colin Kaepernick's arm

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | Sep 9

The Green Bay Packers sure did a good job of figuring out the San Francisco 49ers' read-option attack.

After spending a considerable amount of time working on it in the off-season they completely shut down that aspect of the 49ers' offense Sunday in the regular-season opener at Candlestick Park.

They did not however have an answer for wide receiver Anquan Boldin.

In a 34-28 loss the Packers held 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick to 169 fewer yards rushing then he gained in their divisional playoff loss eight months ago. And in total they held the 49ers to 90 yards rushing on 34 carries a 2.6-yard average.

What they couldn't do was construct a plan that both stopped the read-option and contained Kaepernick and his modest group of offensive targets. The Packers poured so much into keeping Kaepernick from doing what he did to them last time they forgot about the part where he can complete 27 of 39 passes for 412 yards and three touchdowns.

"We kept the quarterback in front of us and we stopped the run" cornerback Tramon Williams said. "First thing you always want to do is stop the run. That's base. Obviously it opened up some other things.

"They're a good team. We knew they were going to make some plays. We were just trying to limit those plays."

It didn't happen nearly enough.

The Packers secondary took a hit when safety Morgan Burnett (hamstring) couldn't make it through the week of practice and wound up being inactive. It forced defensive coordinator Dom Capers to go with Jerron McMillian and M.D. Jennings two nominal starters to patrol the back end of the secondary.

It turned out to be far worse than the Packers imagined.

Whereas Burnett has mostly overcome his propensity for mental mistakes and become aggressive to the ball both McMillian and Jennings appeared tentative and missed out on a couple of big hits that might have sent a message to 49ers receivers. They allowed the 6-foot-1 220-pound Boldin to outfight them for ball after ball.

"I think when our safeties watch the film they are going to wish they made more plays on the ball" McCarthy said. "There were a few times when the ball was pushed vertically and was in the air for enough time for us to possibly make that play.

"This is not the way we intended to come here today. We were confident in our play. We let them have too many things."